Ferullo president of Central Oriental

WEST WARWICK, RI -Mark Ferullo, one of the founders of Central Oriental, has been appointed the company's new president, effective January 1, 2001.

"I am just very excited," Ferullo said. "I'm very flattered and honored. We have all the opportunities in world and we are excited to take them on and expand."

Ferullo was appointed by Michael Litner, president of Natco Home Fashions, and Peter Burnham, Ferullo's partner at Central Oriental.

Ferullo has been with Central Oriental, importer and wholesaler of machine-made and hand-made Oriental rugs, for the past 17 years. He and Burnham opened the company in 1984 outside Boston. Then Natco, based in Rhode Island, bought an undisclosed portion of Central Oriental in 1992. Ferullo stayed with the company, working as vp, sales and national accounts and managed product development.

"Right now my job is to help expand our product base to include more hand-tufted goods from India and China-a major investment for the company," Ferullo said. "It was quite an honor (to become president). We want to keep all the good things going on here."